


Fidelis

by Spectral_Aspen



Series: Fortis atque fidelis a te pro te [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Character Study, During Canon, Family, Family Feels, Gen, How Do I Tag, but different because just that would be boring, literally during the episode word for word dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-05 01:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16357817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spectral_Aspen/pseuds/Spectral_Aspen
Summary: Loyalty to family is what Soren and Claudia had learned from their mother. When Lord Viren, theirFather,breaks that loyalty?Things change.





	1. Soren

**Author's Note:**

> The amount of times I re-watched the few scenes I needed to write this, each approximately 2-5 minutes of the episode, is ridiculous, and I'd like to thank my roommate for putting up with me. Bless your face, my dear.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soren's perspective changed after being brushed aside.

Soren was unsure why Father wished to meet on the top of the castle wall. To compensate he decided to use the time to get some more working out in. One could never be too fit in these trying times, and it was Soren’s job to protect his Father and Claudia.

Especially Claudia.

Father was standing facing the forest, dramatically posed in a way that set Soren on edge. To compensate he decided to trot most of the way to Father before switching abruptly to lunges.

Such silliness used to get a smile from Father, and it always got a laugh from Mother and Claudia, but nowadays Father was far too serious and shifty for Soren’s liking. He was family, though, and Soren would stand by him.

Even if his actions had been getting more and more selfish lately.

“I love having meetings up here!” Soren said boldly, watching for his Father’s reaction.

Soren knew that Father hated exercise, he preferred magic wherever possible. If Father could teleport around the castle Soren was positive the man would never walk up another staircase again; unless, of course, it was for dramatic effect.

“I get a nice leg workout going up all those stairs!” Soren twisted his torso to stretch a few times, watching as his Father didn’t even deign to fully look at him, instead just turning his head slightly before going back to gazing out at the forest.

“We have important things to discuss, try and focus,” Father said, his tone exasperated. Soren decided to do some squats. At least Father had finally looked at Soren, if only to reprimand him.

“No problem!” Soren said cheerfully, straightening up. “You have my undivided attention.” He cracked his neck a few times before stretching to touch his toes, always a difficult task wearing his full suit of armour.

Father turned fully to face Soren. “This evening, you and your sister depart on a mission.” He took a few small steps towards Soren, hands coming to rest on his staff in a display of forced casualness that Soren internally despaired at. When had Father become so distant that such a display had taken the place of their former casual camaraderie?

What was going on with Father?

“Searching for the princes.” Soren said, looking up at Father. This had already been arranged, why would Father request a meeting up here alone to reiterate what had already been discussed and planned?

Did he doubt Soren’s skills? Or was something far more sinister going on here?

Soren stretched towards the floor and turned his head down. “Ahh yeah,” he said as he stretched, his frown hidden from Father, “that’s the good kind of burn!”

Claudia would have seen through him in an instant, but Father just accepted such an action as a quirk of his less magically-inclined, more physical and foolish child.

“The outcome of your mission is critical to the future of our kingdom,” Father said seriously, tapping his staff on the ground to emphasise his words as Soren stood up.

As if Soren didn’t already know how important the mission was. The princes had been both Soren’s friends and his responsibilities for their entire lives, he knew what was at stake should they not be found. Father always overlooked Soren’s intelligence, instead favouring Claudia because of her aptitude for magic, but Soren was the youngest member of the Crownguard in history and he had earned his place through more than just his strength.

He met Father’s eyes and a sharp laugh escaped him. “We got this,” he reassured, reaching down to continue stretching. “We’ll find them.”

Because he was stretching he couldn’t see Father’s expression, but he sounded oddly hesitant. “I’m sure you will. But, there’s a bit of…” Soren tensed slightly at the pause, wondering if Father would finally say what he had called Soren up here to say, “nuance… to the situation.”

He tilted his head to look at Father and grinned, “No idea what nuance is!” He said cheerfully, as if Claudia never forced him to listen to her read trashy romance novels and taught him the meanings of all the words he didn’t know.

Soren heard a resigned sigh. “Listen closely,” Father said quietly. Seriously. Soren didn’t look up, but he could hear Father step closer, his staff clicking harshly against the stone. Soren felt his skin prickle, as it usually did right before something bad happened. Soren had learned to trust his instincts through years of work and experience.

“You are to return with the terrible news that the princes have perished.”

Soren’s world ground to a halt at the solemn but firm, unwavering, words.

He looked up at Father. “Wait… Excuse me?”

Wasn’t Father just saying how important rescuing the princes was?

But no… he had said the _mission_ was important. Up on this stone wall, away from any hidden ears, Father had never once said that the mission was to rescue the princes. Soren had been the one to say that.

Soren stood and covered the small seeds of fear taking root within his heart by playing up his ignorance.

“I think my head was upside-down and it got sort of mixed up.” Soren rubbed his neck and closed his eyes, “Can you… say that again?” He leaned forwards, hands on his hips, hoping he had actually misheard and yet knowing that he hadn’t.

Father looked firmly convinced in himself, his expression conveying that conviction just as his unwavering reiteration of such treasonous words did. “You are to return with the terrible news that both princes have died.” Father nearly growled the word died, and Soren found himself genuinely speechless for a moment.

To cover, Soren kept up with his part of the fool, knowing that only blunt and seemingly naïve questions would get a semblance of honest answers from Father.

“So hold up,” he said, thoughts racing. “If we return with the news that the princes have died… won’t that mean we failed?”

“The coming war will determine the fate of humanity,” Father said calmly, expression giving nothing away. “History has come to a crucial tipping point.”

“So you’re saying things could go either way?” How unhelpful.

“Precisely.”

“Like a see-saw!” Soren grinned, his expression so obnoxiously pleased with himself that he knew it would irritate Father beyond all belief.

“Yes,” Father drawled scathingly after pausing to contemplate his son’s apparent stupidity,    “History is like… a see-saw.”

He stared intently at Soren, “If we are strong enough to make the right decisions, humans may finally return to Xadia and take back the great magical lands that are rightfully ours.” Father had certainly returned to his unwarranted dramatics. The man held his staff behind his back as he once again gazed out at the forest. “But if we are lead by a child king,” he said bitingly, pausing as true rage crossed his expression.

“He’ll make… bad decisions?” Soren suggested curiously, wondering whether Father would share something that would give insight to his actions.

“He will make weak choices!” Father turned to Soren, expression furious, “History will tip the wrong way! And the forces of Xadia will crush not only Katolis, but _all_ the five kingdoms.”

Soren looked at his father carefully, “Okay, so, I’m supposed to come back with the news that they’re dead. What I don’t understand is,” his voice wavered as he asked the question he knew he wouldn’t like the answer to, “what am I supposed to do if I find them alive?”

“Oh,” Father said coldly, “you’ll know the right thing to do.”

“The right thing,” Soren repeated. Father’s tone made it clear what he meant by such a statement. “I-I don’t know if I can do that,” he said honestly.

Maybe Father wouldn’t force him to do this, maybe they could compromise.

Maybe they could take about this, like family.

“Out there, in the wild, accidents happen every day.” Father said, sounding almost consoling before his voice dropped, “Deadly accidents.”

“My son,” Father grasped Soren’s chin and made unrelenting eye contact, expression intense but far too uncaring to be familiar, “this won’t be easy, but you are strong!” Father stepped back and released Soren, as if that was supposed to be at all reassuring. Soren felt genuine fear.

“Now, tell no one, not even Claudia.” Father raised his hand in emphasis, and Soren felt a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach. “You must carry this weight alone.” The close proximity and hand on his pauldron were mean to reassure, but all Soren wanted to do was take a step back.

The Father turned around, and Soren knew his face was showing his horror and fear at the situation that Father had placed him in.

But Father wasn’t finished.

“It will be a burden for me to take the throne,” he said, his voice wavering as he walked away from Soren, as if he hadn’t just ordered Soren to personally ensure that he was able to take the throne in the first place.

“And someday that throne will belong to you.”

Again Soren felt his world shift, and he stared, allowing some of the hopelessness he felt to cross his face as Father turned back to look at him.

But Father looked more pleased with himself than anything else.

And Soren felt his heart break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Grammar? Ideas? Things you hated/loved?  
> Feel free to comment :)


	2. Claudia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claudia's perspective changed after a hefty dose of fear.

          Claudia ripped the black blanket off of Father’s mirror, carefully hanging it up nearby. She knew that Father had undoubtedly tried the spell she was about to perform in one of their many attempts to discern the true purpose of the mirror, but she wanted to do it personally.

The better she was at magic the better she would be able to protect Soren.

Carefully taking one of the snake tongues out of Father’s jar and placing it in a stone bowl Claudia then sprinkled a pinch of jade over of it. The tongue sizzled a little, smoke rising for a second or two.

Claudia carefully carried the bowl to the mirror. “Speak your true nature to me,” she intoned, collecting the magically infused green smoke as it rose from the bowl and thrusting it towards the mirror with a bright flash, her eyes reflecting purple light back at her as she chanted.

Then the smoke and light dissipated, and Claudia frowned at the seemingly untouched mirror.

“Nothing?” She said incredulously. She leaned in, her black eyes glaring. “You are a stubborn magic mirror!”

“You think I haven’t tried that?” Father sounded amused, and Claudia whirled to face him. “I’ve cast eight different reveal spells,” he said, striding forwards to stare searchingly at the mirror. “They all failed.”

Father sighed, and Claudia felt her eyes fade from full black to full white, and then to their usual white and green as her magic dissipated.

“At the end, I see nothing but my own frustrated face staring back at me.” Father was glaring at the mirror while Claudia stared at him curiously. He sounded tense. Had something happened? Claudia knew that he had met with Soren earlier, and while they didn’t get along sometimes she knew that they loved each other. They were, after all, family.

Sometimes Claudia felt that Father held Soren’s appearance against him. He looked so much like their mother. It just added to the things that distanced Father from Soren while she remained by Father’s side and bonded over magic, her presence not bringing up feelings of loss and mourning like Soren’s did.

Claudia tried to reassure Father. “Well, maybe it’s just a mirror.”

Father sighed, curling inwards for half a heartbeat. “Of all the treasures, artefacts, and relics in the lair of the Dragon King and Queen they kept this closest to where they slept.” He caressed the runes bordering the mirror, staring searchingly at his own reflection as if hoping it would come to life and answer his questions. “It must be important,” he said, almost as if he were speaking to himself instead of Claudia.

“Then we’ll figure it out, whatever it takes!” Claudia said cheerfully, winking slyly at Father as he stared down at her. She put a hand on her hip and turned to the mirror. Maybe some silliness would improve Father’s mood.

“Hear that mirror? I’m putting you on notice.” She made the ‘I’m watching you’ motion with her free hand before leaning back a little. “Kind of weird how the mirror did that right back at me,” she turned to look up at Father again as he moved before looking uncertainly at her reflection, “almost like it was putting me on notice.” She blinked as her reflection was covered by the black blanket, finally putting down the stone bowl and turning to Father as he spoke.

He looked and sounded very serious.

“We have something important to discuss.” He turned to Claudia, hands settling on his ever-present staff.  “Your mission.”

“To rescue the princes,” Claudia said, unknowingly parroting what Soren had said earlier.

“Yes,” Father looked down briefly before holding eye contact with Claudia, “but you will have a secret mission that is far more important.” He walked forwards and rested a hand on her shoulder, expression intense.

“Claudia, you must recover that dragon egg.” He removed his hand and leaned back.

“Well,” she said, “they have it with them so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Claudia looked away and absently twirled a strand of her hair. Father was being far too serious. He knew what she and Soren were to accomplish on this mission, why come here to talk about it again? And of course he’d known that Callum and Ezran had the egg, so why make it sound like the egg was her objective instead of the princes?

“Princes. Egg. I’ve got room for a third mission if you need anything else while we’re out,” she joked, looking up at Father to see if he found her as amusing as he used to.

It used to be that, between herself and Soren, they were able to make Father laugh at least once a day.

It had been a long time since they could accomplish such a thing, but Claudia still liked to try. Father was far too serious and stressed lately.

“The egg cannot fall into the wrong hands, it is too powerful. Too dangerous.” He glanced to the side before continuing, almost as if, deep down, he was unsure about what he was about to say.

Never a good sign.

“Whatever accidents or… tragedies that may occur, above all else you must return with that egg.”

Claudia nodded her head, expression turning serious. “I understand.”

Father still _sounded_ confident at least. “Good.” Hopefully that was because he had faith in her. He must, to be trusting her with this mission.

Had he given Soren a weird secret mission too? Was it different from hers?

“One question,” she asked, wanting to lighten the tension that cloaked the room. “Let’s say we’re attacked by giant bumblescorps,” she shifted away from Father and the mirror, striking a ridiculous pose that she knew would have had Soren either laughing hysterically or crying in despair over his sister’s lack of physical combat skills, “and they’re all buzzing like _bzzzZZzzzzZzz,”_ she turned back towards father and made silly little hand gestures, “and flailing their scorps at us like _Bzz! Bzz! Bzz! Bzzz!”_ Claudia turned away again before making sharp jabbing motions, she wouldn’t want to accidentally hit father when he was in such a mood. “And I’m forced to choose between saving the egg and saving Soren,” she turned back to Father and gestured exaggeratedly, “what should I do?”

When Father frowned and didn’t immediately respond with “Soren” Claudia felt a touch of fear at the thought that a dragon egg could be valuable enough to Father that he would hesitate before putting family first. She covered it up though, forcing herself to sound incredibly exasperated and scoffing. “Dad! It’s a joke!” She nudged his shoulder, “Relax! I’m kidding!”

She poked him gently. _“Bzz.”_ Claudia started walking away, “everything will be fine!” She said, turning back and hoping that she sounded as confident as she was pretending to be.

Just before she reached the door, Father spoke.

“The egg.”

Claudia stopped, confused surprise crossing her face.

No.

He wouldn’t.

Would he-?

She turned back towards Father to see that he hadn’t moved.

“If you have to chose, chose the egg.”

His voice didn’t waver, his expression remained cold.

Claudia felt the beginnings of despair settle into her heart as she turned and left the room without another word.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Grammar? Ideas? Things you hated/loved? Loved to hate? Hated to love?  
> Feel free to comment :)


	3. Soren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cracks between this fic and canon start to appear.

   Soren felt cold. Father’s demands had seriously shaken him, and he didn’t know what to do.

   When Mother was still alive she had baked whenever she was particularly stressed, and Soren and Claudia would sneak around and try to steal whatever she made before she officially gave them permission to eat. Their antics would always bring a smile to her face, and even though she’d been gone for years Soren had always found himself seeking out something unhealthy and baked whenever he was feeling stressed or conflicted.

   He couldn’t cook more than field rations and basic fire-pit meat himself, so this was the next best thing.

   A tart in each hand, and a pile on each side.

   “Hey Sore-Bear,” Claudia’s careless voice interrupted his eating, but he didn’t look at her.

   Couldn’t look at her.

   “What’s wrong? You look kinda down.”

   Soren flinched as her hand roughly mussed his hair, “Aww, Grizzly-Grizzly-Sore-Bear!”

   He shook his head and flattened his hair back down.

   “Did Dad say anything… strange… to you?” He asked cautiously, unable to bring himself to respond as he usually would to her teasing.

   The way Claudia instantly frowned was very telling, as was the way she hesitated and looked at the ground. “Well… yeah, he… kind of did.”

   Her eyes flicked up to meet his. “Did he say anything strange to you?”

   Soren paused, Father’s warning not to tell Claudia echoing in his mind.

   “Uhhh…”

   He had been sitting on this stone bench for hours, remembering how Mother had always made sure they knew the importance of family. Everything she did, if it didn’t contradict a direct order from King Harrow, ensured that she kept her family safe. She rarely put family after even Father’s orders unless she knew they would, ultimately, benefit the family in some way.

   She had died for them, so that they could live.

   Father was strong enough to fight for himself, but Claudia needed Soren’s physical strength to shield her, and to catch her when she tripped over something or ran into yet another tree.

   Father was acting different, selfish and greedy, placing himself before others in a way that contradicted everything Mother had ever taught them.

   Soren would not place Father’s will before Claudia’s well-being.

    “Yeah, he did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter is so short. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
> 
>  
> 
> Thoughts? Grammar? Ideas? Likes/dislikes?  
> Favourite colour?  
> Feel free to comment :)


	4. Claudia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so we fully split from canon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly sorry for the delay, i meant to post this much sooner.

   “Yeah, he did.”

   Claudia stared at Soren, warmth enveloping her heart and helping to chase away the despair that had settled in after she spoke with Father.

   Even if Father had forgotten everything that Mother stood for, had taught them to stand for, Soren hadn’t.

   “What did he say?” She asked quietly, gingerly sitting down beside Soren as he scooted over, his leg brushing against one of his piles of tarts. Soren quickly devoured the pastries in his hands; that alone was a dead giveaway that Father had said something that upset Soren. He was very conscientious about what he ate because he hated the thought that he might not fit into his armour.

   “He said…” Soren hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. He glanced around, aware that, despite the populated location, that he and Claudia were common enough figured that nobody was paying them undue attention.

“He said that he didn’t want the princes to come back alive,” he whispered harshly, gratified to see Claudia grow pale.

Sure, they had been complacent with Father’s more recent dubious actions, King Harrow’s funeral pyre and Lieutenant Gren’s imprisonment came to mind, but that didn’t mean that they were in any way, shape, or form agreeable with killing the two boys who they had watched grown since the day they were born. 

They were practically family.

Claudia looked at her hands, clasped on her lap, and didn’t speak for a moment. When she did she looked anywhere but at Soren. 

“Father gave me a hidden mission too, Soren. He wants me to get the egg at all costs, and I made a joke to try to get him to laugh, about who to rescue if we were attacked by something. I wasn’t even being serious and he…” Claudia took a deep, shaky breath, “...he told me to choose the egg. Before you.”

The siblings locked eyes, knowing what the other was thinking without having to say anything.

Father had gone too far. Everything else could be rationalized, with a little effort, but this? Asking Claudia to put an _egg_ before Soren? Before family? There wasn’t even a guarantee the egg would ever hatch!

Soren and Claudia leaned against each other in silence, each of them plotting and working to figure out their next course of action.

Regardless, they would keep the other alive at any cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry the chapter is so short. C'est la vie.
> 
> And here ends Fidelis. At least, until my Muse kickstarts at 1am again...
> 
> Thoughts? Grammar? Ideas? Likes/dislikes?  
> Cats or dogs? (or lizards? or fish? or birds?)  
> Feel free to comment :)

**Author's Note:**

> Fidelis means loyalty. I thought it was fitting.


End file.
